on shore and surveyed. Upon stripping the copper off the bottom, the tide flowed into her, and proved that to the sheathing alone her officers and crew were indebted for their safety. In consequence of this, a brig of 170 tons burden was purchased, and, at the suggestion of Governor Macquarie, named the “Bathurst.”
“By this change,” says Lieutenant King, “we gained a great addition to our comforts; and, besides increasing the number of our crew, were much better off in regard to boats; for we now possessed a long boat, large enough to carry out and weigh an anchor, or save the crew, if any accident should happen to the vessel, – a resource which we did not possess In the Mermaid. A further addition was made to our party by the appointment of Mr. Perceval Baskerville, midshipman; but Mr. Hunter, the surgeon, was superseded by Mr. Andrew Montgomery, who had lately arrived in charge of a convict ship."”
The Bathurst’s establishment consisted of 33 officers, men, and boys, including a volunteer native, named Bundell, who proved to be not only a more active seaman, but was of much greater service to Lieutenant King, than his countryman Boongaree had been. Nor was this man the only person who voluntarily encountered the perils attending the circumnavigation of New Holland; for Lieutenant King informs us, that on the 30th May, 1821, three days after his departure from Port Jackson, a girl, not more than fourteen years of age, was found concealed among the casks in the hold, which had been locked ever since the 26th.
“She had secreted herself,” he says, “in order to accompany the boatswain to sea, and when brought upon deck, she was in a most pitiable plight, for her dress and appearance were so filthy, from four days’ confinement in a dark hold, and from having been dreadfully sea-sick the whole time, that her acquaintances, of whom she had many on board, could scarcely recognise her. Upon being interrogated, she declared she had, unknown to all on board, concealed herself in the hold the day before the vessel sailed, and that her swain knew nothing of the step she had taken. As it was now inconvenient to return into port to put her on shore, and as the man consented to share his ration with her, she was allowed to remain; but in a very short time she heartily repented of her imprudence, and would gladly have been re-landed, had it been possible.
“Upon reaching Cairncross Island (June 30th), as we were in the act of letting go the anchor, Mr. Roe, who was at the mast-head, holding